Whalefall - Daniel Kraus

Whalefall

By Daniel Kraus

  • Release Date: 2023-08-08
  • Genre: Adventure Sci-Fi
Score: 4
4
From 195 Ratings

Description

Soon to be a major motion picture from 20th Century Studios

A USA TODAY BESTSELLER

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Angel Down comes a scientifically accurate thriller about a scuba diver who’s been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.

Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand—to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s a long shot, but Jay feels it’s the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad’s death by suicide the previous year.

The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out—one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.

Suspenseful and cinematic, Whalefall is an “powerfully humane” (Owen King, New York Times bestselling author) thriller about a young man who has given up on life…only to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places.

Reviews

  • Absolutely amazing.

    5
    By CrisNz
    Reading the book rekindled my curiosity about ocean life. Truly and exhilarating experience reading Whalefall.
  • WhaleDad

    3
    By FISHXMARKET
    There are a lot of things I enjoyed about Whalefall, but equally a lot of things I did not. I could not get into a flow while reading which I credit to the author’s writing style and poetic nature. I think some would say it adds to the story while I felt it took away from it. It’s a tale of love and loss, grief and rebirth. However, the dad was emotionally abusive and it feels played off as being misunderstood. No doubt relationships are never black and white, but our generation is holding parents accountable and the theme of Whalefall seems to be forgiveness where it is not deserved. I am a PADI certified diver, but very much still a beginner with less than 10 dives under my belt. That being said, even a novice as myself saw his PSI and air consumption as implausible. I would have been a little more forgiving if the book wasn’t so anatomy heavy. The depths of which the whale’s physical makeup is described needed to be matched with an accurate tale of scuba diving. It felt too science heavy while ignoring the science behind the main plot. Overall, there are still a lot of great elements. It’s unique, thrilling, and intense. Unfortunately it is overshadowed with a complicated writing style, an anatomy lesson, scientific inaccuracies, and a hindering life lesson.
  • Whalefall

    3
    By hisnob
    Just not believable. 3000 PSI will last about 1 hour at 60 feet.
  • Whalefall Rising

    5
    By Cuegot
    I was hooked from the start, the breathless pacing, the surgical dissection of the protagonist’s relationship with his father, the descriptions of the anatomy of the dive and everything that takes place in the belly of the beast…all of it captivating. Bound to be as much of a classic as Cannery Row.
  • Anxiety Ridden

    4
    By Dave Denton
    This triggered my claustrophobia in a manner I didn’t think possible. I saw the trailer for the upcoming film, and the swallowing scene drew me in and I had to find out more about this story. Jay’s decent into what he feels as hell left me feeling helpless, but the ending was perfect. This book very well may have brought my need for literature back into my life.
  • Poetic Masterpiece

    5
    By Fish of the woods
    One of the most profound and deeply affecting books I’ve ever read. I thought this book would be unrealistic and metaphorical, or possibly realistic but artistically null; instead, the author manages to blend scientific realism with a gut-wrenching emotional narrative in one of the best books I’ve ever read. Absolutely nightmarish in parts—the description of the whale’s second stomach will haunt me for months—but deeply intentional in when it utilizes horror. Please, please read this book, and preferably in one sitting.
  • Grieved with me

    5
    By Margrettwokids
    Got me through a family death
  • Glaring Flaws

    4
    By HoldInTheSpam
    I changed my rating from 5 stars to 4 for one main reason: the relationship between Jay and his father. To me it felt like that subplot was just justification for emotional abuse. If I were writing this story, I wouldn’t have given the father any time of day and would have had Jay cut himself off from the rest of his family for enabling the father. The ending was also a bit too vague and abrupt for me.
  • Too much an anatomy lesson

    3
    By Venice OG
    I want to love this book. But there was so much scientific anatomy that I got bored. And the lyrical poetic nature of it just did not hit home for me.
  • A very entertaining read

    4
    By Amigo73
    Rarely do I give 4 stars. Rarely does a book deserve them. But Whalefall was a solidly good read. I read it in one sitting because it seemed wrong to break up the momentum. The analogies and symbolism were just a delight too. It was like The Old Man and the Sea meets Jonah.